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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28092288">pinky promise</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/iicconics/pseuds/iicconics'>iicconics</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>mars’s mcu oneshots [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Other, Some Fluff, hm, post infinity war vibes, that should be everything, there’s a lottttt of other characters mentioned but i didn’t feel like tagging everyone sorry, time will tell i suppose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 20:15:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,766</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28092288</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/iicconics/pseuds/iicconics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s been a year since Thanos snapped his fingers, and you still feel just as upset as you did the day it happened, but Steve and Nat are there to try their best to help you :)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Natasha Romanoff &amp; Reader, Steve Rogers &amp; Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>mars’s mcu oneshots [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2058039</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>pinky promise</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this one is my most popular oneshot yet and im kinda proud of it hehe</p><p>tumblr: platonicavengers<br/>wattpad: iicconics</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>One year; 12 months; 52 weeks; 365 days; 8,760 hours; 525,600 minutes; 31,536,000 seconds.</p><p>Since it happened. </p><p>It, of course, being Thanos snapping his fingers, successfully eliminating 50% of life throughout the entire universe. Since you lost so many of your closest friends, your family.</p><p>Some people say that it gets easier with time, that eventually, it stops hurting as much. That after a while, the pain just isn't as bad.</p><p>But they would be wrong.</p><p>It's been an entire year, and for you, it's only seemed to get worse. The pain just grows each day, the loss of some of your favorite people just taking a larger toll on you as the days go by.</p><p>And the team could tell. What's left of the team, at least. Even out of the survivors, not everyone stayed around at the compound, as it would just bring back memories of those they've lost.</p><p>Tony had gone to live with Pepper and their daughter, Morgan, in a cabin on the lake. Bruce had gone somewhere, you weren't even sure where he was, and the same with Rhodey. Thor left to go establish New Asgard, and you hadn't seen him since. Carol, although technically not an official member of the team, was up in space most of the time, so you never saw her, either. That left only you, Natasha, and Steve.</p><p>Natasha was the first to notice. The way you rarely left your room, and if you did, your eyes were rimmed with a red tint, and your cheeks were puffed up. And if she ever got the chance to speak to you, you would only give her one or two word responses, far from the usual energetic and lengthy ones you used to give.</p><p>Steve noticed not long after, partially because Natasha pointed it out to him, and partially on his own. He saw the way you always wore sweatshirts or t- shirts belonging to your fallen friends. He heard you crying at the late hours of the night, when you thought no one else was awake.</p><p>So the two of them came together, trying to think of any and every way to help you, to take your mind off of everything, even just for a few minutes. But you did know this. You still stayed locked up in your room, today, especially, not even attempting to drag yourself out of bed, knowing that the only thing you were capable of doing today, was mourning.</p><p>••</p><p>The minute your alarm clock went off at 7 AM, you could already feel the familiar sensation of a wave of tears approaching. You were used to it by now, and just let it happen on its own.</p><p>With the sleeves of one of Wanda's hoodies folded over your hands, you pressed your wrists to your eyes, trying to stop the stinging feeling of the tears. Your attempt was futile, and a steady stream started flowing down your cheeks, onto the comforter below you.</p><p>You sighed in frustration and annoyance when the tears wouldn't stop. It seems like everyone else has moved on already, you thought to yourself, so why can't I?</p><p>You buried your face in your hands and let out a loud sob. You shook your head, slowly lifting it from your hands as you stared up at the ceiling for a moment. You internally swore at yourself, knowing that what you were about to do was immature, but you were going to do it anyways.</p><p>"Hey, u-um," your voice was quiet, hoarse from going so long without speaking, not to mention nasally from all the crying you've been doing lately. You brushed your messy hair out of your face, sniffling loudly, "I-I don't know if anyone can hear me, but I, uh. I wanted to try an-and say something, just in case any of you guys a-are listening right now."</p><p>You sobbed again, swearing under your breath, "Get it together, Y/N," you whispered to yourself. You cleared your throat, trying once more to speak, "U-um. I just wanted to say that, um, I miss you all," your voice broke off, the tears falling faster now, "so much. Uh, I miss you and love you all so much. I would do anything to get a-all of you back here, right now. Whatever it would take, I don't care. I-I need you all, so badly."</p><p>You cursed at yourself again, much louder than you intended to. Unbeknownst to you, Steve and Natasha heard you. They shared a look, before stopping what they were doing, and standing next to your closed door.</p><p>"I'm so, so, so sorry I didn't do good enough. I tried, as hard as I could. I tried everything I could think of to get everyone back," your voice had fallen into a low whisper, "b-but nothing worked."</p><p>The pair outside your door felt their hearts break. It hurt them so much to hear you in such pain, and they knew they couldn't stand to listen any longer. Natasha glanced at Steve, communicating with him through their eyes. Steve sent her a slight nod, knowing what she wanted to do.</p><p>The redhead slowly stood up from her squatting position, softly knocking on your door. She spoke quietly, a warm and caring tone laced through her words, "Y/N, sweetie? Could you open the door, please?"</p><p>You froze. You hadn't expected for either of them to try and talk to you. Lately, they had stopped trying to get you to unlock your door, to open up, even just a little, after realizing that you refused to. You stayed silent for a moment, not knowing how, or if you wanted, to respond.</p><p>"Please, Y/N. We just want to help you, I promise, honey."</p><p>Natasha's voice was so calming, with the slight motherly tone coming through her words. You felt your resolve falter for a second, and you contemplated whether to let her in or not. On one hand, you didn't want them seeing you like this, although you knew they wouldn't care. But on the other, you so desperately craved comfort, reassurance, especially from those you trusted and cared for so deeply.</p><p>"Please," this time it was Steve that spoke, "we know you're hurting, and we want to help."</p><p>With his words, you broke. You felt the sobs building up in your chest, and you ran to the door, unlocking and it and yanking it open roughly. You fell into Natasha's open arms, sobbing. Steve wrapped his arms around you as well, joining the embrace. Your body shook painfully, but the feeling of two of your closest friends holding you so tightly helped soften the blow.</p><p>It took you around fifteen minutes to calm down. The whole time, both Steve and Natasha stayed with you on the floor, still holding onto you tightly, occasionally whispering short phrases of comfort into your ears.</p><p>When you eventually did settle down, you could feel your body growing tired from your sobs. You slowly lifted your head from Natasha's shoulder, and she sent you a small smile. She wiped away the tears from under your eyes with the pads of her thumbs, and tucked your hair behind your ears.</p><p>Steve shifted so he was in front of you, and he could see your face as he spoke to you, "How 'bout we have a movie day today, huh? No work, no responsibilities, just hangin' out and watching movies? Sound good, hmm?"</p><p>You weakly nodded, trying your best to send him a smile, but the corners of your lips barely lifted up. He smiled back at you, helping you and Natasha both up from the ground, and the three of you walked together to the living room area.</p><p>You sat down on one of the couches, Steve taking the seat next to you. He wrapped an arm around your shoulders, slowly rubbing your arm as Natasha stood in the kitchen, gathering snacks for you all.</p><p>As Steve picked up the TV remote, going to put the first movie on, a memory of a day similar came to mind.</p><p>"Everybody sit your asses down, it's movie day!" You grinned widely as Tony shouted at the rest of the team. You plopped down on one of the couches, Steve on your right, and Wanda on your left. You loved having movie nights with the team, as they were a rare pleasantry in a life as hectic as yours.</p><p>"Yo, Tiny! Heads up!" Sam called out to you, chucking a bag of popcorn towards you. You giggled as you caught it, quickly ripping it open and shoving a handful of the snack into your mouth.</p><p>Steve reached a hand into the bag, trying to steal some of the popcorn, but you quickly smacked his hand, causing him to send you a playful glare. Your eyes widened as you saw popcorn floating out of the bag, but you jokingly rolled your eyes as you turned to your left, seeing Wanda using her magic to grab some of your food. You sighed, a small smile on your lips, "I really can't have anything around here, huh?"</p><p>You were cut off by a loud "Shh!" and you glanced over to one of the other couches, offering a sheepish smile to an impatient Natasha.</p><p>You were brought back to reality by a loud shout of your name, and you blinked your eyes a few times, seeing both Steve and Natasha in front of you, worry clear on their faces.</p><p>They both visibly relaxed when you looked at them, but their concern quickly returned when they saw your eyes well up with tears, and a sob break its way past your lips.</p><p>Natasha wrapped her arms around you, bringing you to her chest and slowly rocking you back and forth, "Hey, hey, what's wrong?"</p><p>"I-I miss them s-so much!" You stuttered out between sobs.</p><p>Natasha felt herself tear up, her hold on you tightening, "Oh, sweetie, I know, I know. I miss them too."</p><p>A few minutes later, Natasha released from the hug, but kept you tucked into her side, running her fingers through your hair. Steve grabbed ahold of your hands, gently rubbing his thumbs on top of your fingers, "I promise you, Y/N, we're gonna get them back. We're gonna get them all back."</p><p>You wiped away a lone tear, whispering, "Pinky promise?" You knew it was immature, but you held up a shaking pinky, desperate for reassurance, no matter how childish it made you seem.</p><p>Steve chuckled softly, wrapping his pinky around yours, "Pinky promise."</p>
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